Grinder (Seattle Sharks 1)

Her legs slid from my waist, and I lowered her gently to the ground.

“I’ll go,” she said softly. “You’re still…”

“Hard,” I offered, well aware that my dick could probably hang laundry at this point.

“Yeah,” she said, running her tongue along her bottom lip.

I groaned, wanting to suck on that lip...and that tongue.

“At least we know, right?” She asked, and then slipped out from under my arms to tend to Lettie.

I leaned forward on my elbows, bracing my forehead on the edge of the front-loader, and told my body to calm the fuck down.

I’d never been so glad to be cock-blocked, let alone by the very reminder of why I needed to keep my dick in my pants and my hands off my daughter’s nanny. What the fuck was I thinking? If Bailey belonged to anyone in this house, it was Lettie. I’d never taken anything from my daughter and I wasn’t about to start now.

At least we know, right?

Yeah, I knew that she was the hottest, most perfect kiss I’d ever had, and now I was totally and completely fucked.

That could not happen again.

Ever.

Chapter 6

Bailey

CRACK! A player’s helmet bounced off the wall as Gage slammed against him, his skates steady while the other’s slipped. Lettie jolted in my lap, and I wrapped my arms around her, comforting both of us. I knew he was in the best shape of his life, but I was terrified he’d reinjure his shoulder. A second surgery would most certainly mean he wouldn’t be signed to the Sharks again, or quite possibly any other team either.

I could barely make out his face under his helmet, so I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like he grimaced. I suppose I could be imagining things—I’d done quite a bit of that since he’d crossed his own line in the laundry room.

The cold bench beneath me heated up as the memory of his taste filled my mind. The man was intensity and warmth and sex all combined, and when he let me in…good God, it was incredible. He’d practically made me come from a few touches and a deep kiss—I might as well have been a teenager again for how often that kiss was on replay in my brain.

An excited squeal from Lettie sharpened my focus in time to see Gage pass the puck to Rory, who shot it so fast the goalie didn’t have time to flinch. The two were an unstoppable force, complimenting each other in every regard—Gage was strength, strategy, and intimidation; Rory was speed, stamina, and aim.

The two gave each other a quick glove-covered fist bump after the shot.

“Daddy’s a badass!” Lettie shouted.

I gasped, biting my tongue so I didn’t laugh.

“Lettie,” I said and shifted her on my lap so she could look me in the eye. “You shouldn’t say that word.”

“What?” Her little forehead wrinkled before she smirked. “Daddy?”

I tilted my head at her, she was Gage’s daughter all right. “You know what. I won’t repeat it because it’s not a nice word.” Though I guaranteed she heard it from her father or Rory or Warren. When the trio came together at the house, it was hard for them to keep their animalistic sides in check—it was sexy as hell to me, but not so great for Lettie’s vocabulary.

“Say, Daddy’s awesome, or Daddy’s a rockstar, instead. Okay?”

She nodded, her brown curls framing her face. “Okay!” She hugged my neck and turned back around, her attention recaptured by the game.

Lettie and I went to as many games as possible, even traveling with Gage on the road most of the time, and she was such a trooper. Never once complaining about the cold, the smells signature only to the rink, or the fast food we ate too much of because of the number of away games. The girl didn’t care what we did, as long as she was near her daddy. Gage couldn’t stand to be separated from her, so it worked out beautifully.

“Whoohoo!” Lettie shouted, jerking her fist in the air when Gage zoomed by. “Daddy’s a rockstar!” Her little voice cracked she yelled so hard but she earned several awhs from the small crowd scattered throughout the bleachers. Glancing over her shoulders, she beamed at me.

“Good job!” I said and nuzzled her neck. I loved it when she actually listened to me. She was three, so my chances always averaged fifty-fifty.

I hissed when Gage slammed another player into the boards so hard the poor bastard hit the ice with a loud smack. It gave Warren the advantage and he raced toward the goal with the puck.

“If he isn’t careful he’ll rip himself up again,” a woman said from behind me.

“Think it’s inevitable at this point. He won’t let up.” Another responded.

I held Lettie a little tighter. Don’t feed the hockey wives. Don’t feed the hockey wives.

“I was hoping to see the new kid start today. He’s got to have chops because Gage’s skates will be hard as hell to fill.”

Lettie turned her head toward the women before glancing at me. “Is Daddy giving away his skates?”

Oh hell no.

“No, baby. He’s not.” I stroked her hair until she turned back around to stare at the action on the ice.

I whipped my head around, focusing on the group of women sitting a couple benches above us, all wearing matching yoga pants tucked into Uggs, some with their husband’s jersey’s worn over white long sleeved shirts. The bunnies—who were easy to mark because of their lack of warm clothing—decided tight white t-shirts were smart clothes for an ice-cold rink.

“Gage is stronger than he’s ever been,” I said as calmly as I could. “He’s not going anywhere.” The last thing I wanted Lettie to hear was someone tearing him down. Where the hell did these women get off?

The wife on the left cocked an eyebrow at me, crossing one leg over the other. “Who are you, again?”

I swallowed hard, her tone was near identical to the puck-bunny parade I’d been subjected to as Lettie’s nanny. Didn’t matter to these women that I’d went to every game, supported Gage both on and off the ice, and took care of his daughter. It mattered that my ring finger was absent a huge rock. Or—because for some reason they treated bunnies better than bystanders—I wasn’t fucking him.

Not my choice. Given the chance, I would have mounted him in the laundry room faster than the slew of women standing in line to, and I wouldn’t be rushed out of the house the next morning either. I’d just simply go back to my room and…